Media Musings Blog Archive A Lesson in Deception
Students at the University of Sydney were given an assignment, which required them to get a louis vuitton 100 legendary trunks amazon story published in the University of New South Whales student magazine, Tharunka, that was to be based on an entirely fictitious premise.

The assignment asked students to
"design and execute a false story that you attempt to get published in the UNSW student newspaper."
To be clear, the assignment was not for a media ethics subject in particular, but rather a media politics subject. It was designed to help students understand how public relations can be imbued into news organisations.
The task was not designed to be a malicious attack on Tharunka. The central idea of the assignment was to highlight the increasingly blurred lines between public relations and journalism.
And while the sentiment was right, the practice was wrong.
Encouraging journalism students to actively try and get a false story published is like encouraging police cadets to join forces with criminals.
Though it may highlight how such industries are easily exploited, it defies the very purpose of the profession In a policeman's case to stop criminal behavior, and in a journalists case, to tell the truth.
The struggle of the newsindustrymeans PR is becoming more ubiquitous in news organisations, so it is of course crucial that journalism students understand the differences between PR and journalism.
The University of Sydney lecturer Peter Chen, who co ordinates the subject, toldCrikey that such practical assignments.
"offer students a refreshing change to dry academic essays and show universities can be grounded in the real world."
But while practical assignments are a valuable way to develop skills, shouldn't students be engaging in thebehaviourthey will eventually be practicing in their professional careers?
If anything, the assignment seemed to teach students stragtegies in manipulation and deception.
A student enrolled in the course, who wrote inside account louis vuitton tennis bracelet of what the intended rationale of the assignment said.
"Essentially, students were to figure out what makes stories publishable."
He said they were of louis vuitton neverfull purse testing the vulnarablity media organisations and how easily they are 'susceptible of spin and manipulation.'
James Davey, a student in the media politics class, defended the assignment. He said
"It is up to the editor of a news organisation to vet any and all submissions. The fact is that Tharunka found itself with articles it was willing to run. When someone informed them of the 'prank', they got embarrassed. Cue retaliatory article. The reality of the news landscape is that it louis vuitton purses discontinued is competitive. It was on point and a relevant assignment."
One of the editors at editor at Thankura, Lily Ray suggests the deceptive tactics fell short when submissions from students of USYD, who claimed to be students from UNSW, used USYD email addresses.